JetAmerica All But Finished

On Monday morning, the future for JetAmerica looked pretty grim, but we were holding out hope that John Weikle could get his airline aloft. But after Skybus went down in flames, he decided to pull the plug on the new project.

Charleston Area Alliance President Matt Ballard says fundraising for the project has stopped, and the Daily Mail quotes Weikle as saying checks are going back to investors. That's the end of Jet America for now.

Meanwhile Ballard says a lack of leadership on national energy policy is what's killing airlines these days, not a bogus business model:

I think all of the investors here in the local area still believe in John Weikle's ultra-low cost carrier model. In fact, there were many who despite the Skybus announcement wanted to move forward...I believe John will make this model work in the US; it works for Air Asia and Ryanair.